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Archibald admits relief

Second-half goals from Ryan Stevenson, Kris Doolan and Steven Lawless condemned St Mirren to a 3-0 defeat and left the Thistle boss planning for next season.

“It’s relief more than anything, it just lets us move forward as a club. It lets the club start to sell season tickets, it lets me speak to players and try and get new players in,” said Archibald.

A number of Thistle’s players are out of contract at the end of the season, but Archibald confirmed that he will now look at securing the futures of members of his squad, including his loan signings.

Callum Booth and Lyle Taylor are on loan from Hibernian and Scunthorpe respectively, and Archibald is hopeful of persuading the parent clubs to make these deals permanent.

He added: “Callum Booth has settled in really well, Lyle is still under contract at Scunthorpe, but I’d like to think we have a good chance of keeping him. He likes playing football regularly with a smile on his face and he enjoys his surroundings here so hopefully that will help.”

Looking ahead to next season, Archibald has also set the early ambition of Scottish Premiership survival, but admits that it is going to be tough with Hearts coming up as second division champions, as well as possibly one of Hibernian or Rangers.

He said: “First and foremost staying in the league again will be the priority. We know it’ll be difficult, with Hearts coming back in and more than likely a team that has a much bigger budget than ourselves will make it tough again.

He added: “But I think when you look at the bottom of the league at the moment, there isn’t a lot between the teams. We know that if we put a run together we’ll go far, we’re on one now but hopefully we can do it a bit earlier in the season next year.”

Despite being ever so close to relegation St Mirren manager Gary Teale still believes he is the right man for the job and that he can help bring a fresh start to the club if the Paisley side go down.

He said: “We are looking to the future. In these games we always look to bring a lot of the young players from the academy and hopefully that gives a bit of positivity for the fans, showing that we are building for the future.

“I think the future needs a fresh start, rejuvenate the drive and desire into a team. We are clinging on to our Premiership survival just now, but if we do end up in the Championship then we want to have a young vibrant squad, and then reap the rewards like Hearts have done this season.”